After that disagreement with Kay, Kyle's mood was affected thereafter.
He understood where she was coming from, truly, but it was something that he couldn't do. She couldn't quite comprehend that part.
She said she did, but by the fact that she was always trying to speak up for Patrick showed otherwise. It wasn't that Kyle was jealous that Kay chose Patrick over him, but it proved that she had that mindset.
No matter what, Kay is Patrick's daughter.
True daughter, that is.
Kyle sighed.
That part hit him the most.
For a couple of reasons.
One, the fact that Kay, who is supposed to be the one that understood him the best - did not. Two, he would always feel like he was the one outside, looking in.
He didn't quite fit in, even though he was born and raised in the Smith Household.
The feeling was perhaps similar to how an adult would feel like if they were adopted into a family.
You are grateful for the family that adopted you, and you do feel the love showered upon you … but the feeling of 'connection' is never truly the same as one who is born in the family.
His situation was even more unique. He was, yet, not.
Biologically, he is Patrick's son.
Even his temper came from him. In his previous life, Kyle had been a very mellowed and patient person. Yet, in this life, he found himself quick to anger.
In his previous life, bending over backwards for Patrick would not have been rocket science. He had been an expert in giving way, and swallowing whatever grievances he may have had, for the sake of peace.
Kyle knew, more than anything, how it felt to be a parent - but in this life, he just could not bring himself down a level just to make them feel happy.
He did his best, truly he did.
But his best was not good enough.
How could he possibly pretend to sit down obediently, listen intently and then follow their advice … when he, himself, knew what was best? For himself, taking into account what he had to do to protect his own children.
Which would not be of the same interest as his parents.
It was a conundrum.
There was no clear right answer or any good solution. One side had to suffer. In this case, Kyle would choose his kids over Patrick.
Anytime, all the time.
Kyle sighed again.
Other than the problem he faced about the situation with Patrick, another more pressing problem arose since the prom.
The attention he got from girls that came by the convenience store arose dramatically. Kyle was getting a headache from all of this.
All this while, he was Mr. Ignored. Now, he was Mr.Girls-Staring-at-Chest Guy. So much unwanted attention.
Luckily, his continued indifference, sloppy appearance and grunts for answers slowly whittled away most of the girl's interest. The novelty wore off.
The problem was, the ones who persisted was Dina and her 'gang'.
Kyle had done some digging on her since the prom.
Dina Styles, spoilt little Daddy's girl. Nothing really major about her, other than the fact that she had tried to bully his beloved Sari
Dina was the typical teenage girl that had her nose high in the air, looking down on people that she deemed beneath her. She was in the 'popular' clique, and she essentially dictated the sort of 'acceptable' behaviour and demeanor of girls in the school.
Her redeeming quality was that she wasn't a bully, in the sense that she didn't target anyone that didn't appear to follow the unspoken rules. She 'teased' people once in a while but it never went overboard.
As to why she targetted Sari that day?
Kyle had no idea.
But she was on his blacklist.
He let her go this time, for in an indirect way, if it hadn't been for her, he might never have gotten round to revealing his identity to Sari. If she dared to go overboard one more time though …
Well, she would regret it. Simple as that.
What got to Kyle was the fact that she wasn't really trying to get his attention. You could still see the slight disdain in her voice and manner when she interacted with him.
It wasn't that she was trying to be friends with him - she only talked to him to ask where things were, and when paying. She was trying to see his face clearly.
She always failed.
But she always came back.
She was a persistent little bug.
So what did Kyle do?
He wasn't going to quit because this was his only connection with his kids. He wasn't going to let this weird little girl make him leave.
What harm could she do anyway, right?
It just meant he had constantly play 'hide-and-seek' with her.
No biggie.
With that, Kyle put her out of his mind and stopped paying her any attention. So much so, that he never even realised when her behaviour towards him started to change.
Not too drastic, but there was a change in the new year.
She wasn't as condescending as before. She was even … friendlier.
.?.?.?
Dina was flabbergasted.
It didn't make sense, but she couldn't deny the evidence.
She was staring at her computer and at the picture she had scanned and uploaded there.
It was an embarrassing picture of her during prom -? on the floor, wet, while Sari's equally wet boyfriend 'showing off' his impressive physique.
Someone had managed to capture that moment, and they deemed it funny and memorable enough to put it in the school magazine.
(The school magazine was published and given out at the beginning of the new school year, and the seniors who had graduated would get it in the mail.)
It was the only clear picture of Sari's boyfriend's face.
Dina had removed his glasses and 'shaved' him using photoshop. The result wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.
Rex is Kyle Smith.
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